A federal judge in Washington has ordered a journalist to pay up to $5,000 a day if she continues to refuse to reveal her sources, acording to the Associated Press (AP).
US District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that former USA Today reporter Toni Locy must pay the fines starting midnight on Tuesday next. The first week she is required to pay $500 a day, $1,000 a day for the second week and $5,000 a day thereafter. Locy wanted the contempt citation to be be delayed while she appealed. The judge refused.
Walton found Locy in contempt of court for failing to cooperate in former Army scientist Steven J Hatfill's Privacy Act suit against the government. Locy is refusing to identify whom she talked to for a series of stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people.
Then-Attorney-General John Ashcroft called Hatfill, who worked at the Army's infectious diseases laboratory, "a person of interest" in the investigation.
"Of all the federal court sanctions on reporters for refusing to reveal confidential sources over the past several years, this is perhaps the most disturbing," said Lucy A Dalglish, Executive Director Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP). "Locy is being punished for doing what reporters are supposed to do: making sure important information gets to the public about whether the government had the investigation into a major public health threat under control. We ask the US Senate to take up the Free Flow of Information Act as soon as possible," Dalglish said.
Locy, 48, is a former Associated Press reporter who wrote about Hatfill while working at USA Today. "I'm terribly disappointed in the judge's ruling," said Locy, now a professor at West Virginia University's journalism school. "I had hoped he would reconsider this draconian sanction."
Locy was one of five reporters Hatfill subpoenaed while trying to track down anonymous government sources who had identified him as a "person of interest" in the investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks. Without identifying the source of those disclosures, Walton said, Hatfill cannot proceed with his suit against the government for releasing information about the investigation.
Some details from the AP report:
In his decision, the judge said that further delay of a case that is already over four years old "may very likely prejudice Dr. Hatfill, with the potential result being the erosion of his ability to effectively establish" his Privacy Act claims.
"When weighing ... Dr. Hatfill's need to identify the leakers before their memories are exhausted against Ms. Locy's desire to preserve her ability to pursue her appeal, her interest, at a minimum, is counterbalanced by Dr. Hatfill's," the judge added.
Explaining his rationale for making Locy pay the money out of her own funds, the judge pointed to statements Hatfill's lawyers made in court papers. Hatfill's legal team said that while Locy's reporting was conducted "within the scope of her employment for USA Today, her contempt was not. It began long after she left the employment of USA Today."
Five people were killed and 17 sickened when anthrax was mailed to Capitol Hill lawmakers and members of the news media just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft called Hatfill, who worked at the Army's infectious diseases laboratory from 1997 to 1999, "a person of interest" in the investigation.
Walton ruled in August that five journalists must identify the government officials who discussed details about the case. Though reporters said testifying would chill the flow of information, Walton said that fear is outweighed by Hatfill's rights in his Privacy Act lawsuit.
Three reporters cooperated after their sources identified themselves to Hatfill's lawyers. Locy says she cannot remember whom she talked to about Hatfill specifically and is refusing to identify all the sources she spoke to about anthrax generally.
The judge is also considering whether to find former CBS reporter James Stewart in contempt.
Stewart says that his cooperation is no longer necessary since several law enforcement officials have already acknowledged talking to reporters in the case about information similar to what Stewart reported.
Nobody was charged with the anthrax attacks and Hatfill's lawyers say the Justice Department destroyed his good name by discussing details of the case with reporters. Walton has scheduled time for settlement negotiations that could head off a trial, but Hatfill's attorneys have said it appears unlikely they will settle.
Thirteen news media subpoenas, according to RCFP, have been served in this case, including to reporters from ABC, CBS, NBC, Associated Press (AP), the Washington Post, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and Baltimore Sun. Most of those were withdrawn after either the government made sources available for depositions or the reporters' sources came forward.
